{"id":144142,"date":"2026-06-16T07:03:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T07:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/africa-readies-itself-for-super-el-nino-as-climate-scientists-urge-for-anticipatory-action\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T07:03:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T07:03:34","slug":"africa-readies-itself-for-super-el-nino-as-climate-scientists-urge-for-anticipatory-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/africa-readies-itself-for-super-el-nino-as-climate-scientists-urge-for-anticipatory-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa readies itself for \u201csuper\u201d El Nino as climate scientists urge for anticipatory action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The African continent is strengthening preparedness to mitigate impacts associated with extreme weather events, as super El Nino looms large.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Climate scientists drawn from across Africa are this week meeting in Lusaka Zambia, as the continent continues to face repeated shocks to food systems, water resources, and livelihoods, alongside rising risks from global ocean warming and coastal flooding.<\/p>\n

The 21st African Continental Climate Outlook Forum (ACCOF-21) with the theme: \u201cPreparing Africa for El Nino 2026\/2027: Strengthening Readiness to Anticipate and Manage Climate Shocks\u201d aims to sensitize policy planners as well as users of climate information on the need to plan for various scenarios that might arise as the El Nino builds up, with the effects expected during the short rains season of October, November to December (OND).<\/p>\n

The target are the climate-sensitive sectors and among vulnerable groups such as children, women, and persons with disabilities who are most impacted on during adverse weather events.<\/p>\n

The forum bringing together Africa\u2019s Regional Climate Centres (RCCs) are assessing the projected El Ni\u00f1o impacts, harmonize regional outlooks, share lessons, and co-develop actionable climate services and early warnings tailored to vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n

The conference organised by the African Union Commission\u2019s Department for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Development, will also advance the formal establishment of Continental User Working Groups, ensuring synergy between AUC, RCCs, RECs, sectoral institutions, and user communities.<\/p>\n

While opening the ACCOF21, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment in Zambia, Dr. Douty Chibamba said that Africa continues to face unprecedented climate challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross our continent, we are witnessing an increasing frequency and intensity of droughts, floods, heatwaves, tropical cyclones and other extreme weather events,\u201d he said and added, \u201cthese hazards are undermining food security, water resources, energy systems, infrastructure, public health and livelihoods, particularly among our most vulnerable communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that the El Nino of 2015\/2016 which was the strongest on record in Southern Africa, left millions of people food insecure and placed enormous strain on national economies, \u201chere in Zambia, the 2023\/2024 El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought was among the worst in our living memory,\u201d said Dr. Chibamba and added, \u201cit compelled government to declare a national disaster and emergency, as the drought devastated crop production, severely reduced water levels in our hydropower reservoirs and triggered a prolonged energy deficit that affected households, industry and the economy at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

While calling for anticipatory action ahead of the impacts of El Nino, Dr. Chibamba said that climate shocks are no long abstract projections, but present-day realities that can reverse years of hard-won development gains.<\/p>\n

He noted that as current forecasts from global producing centres suggest the possibility of another El Ni\u00f1o, \u201cthe science is sufficiently clear for us to begin strengthening preparedness measures, the cost of early preparation is always far lower than the cost of late response.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Permanent Secretary averred that climate information has become an essential resource for sustainable development, yet it can only create value when it is translated into action.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeasonal forecasts, climate outlooks, advisories and early warnings must support real decisions in agriculture, water resources management, disaster risk reduction, energy planning, infrastructure development and public health,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the Zambian government is promoting climate-resilient livelihoods and accelerating investments in renewable energy away from over reliance on hydropower, \u201cwe have learnt the need to diversify our energy mix and build resilience against climate-induced disruptions in water availability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Africa readies itself for \u201csuper\u201d El Nino as climate scientists urge for anticipatory action<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The African continent is strengthening preparedness to mitigate impacts associated with extreme weather events, as super El Nino looms large. Climate scientists drawn from across Africa are this week meeting in Lusaka Zambia, as the continent continues to face repeated shocks to food systems, water resources, and livelihoods, alongside rising risks from global ocean warming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}